More than 300 municipalities have already signed up for the DDAS (Data Sharing Poverty and Debt) project. With this project, we ensure that automated data on the results of service delivery around debt are made available periodically.
The need for clear and uniform information on debt in the Netherlands is great. Municipalities are eager to understand the effects of their policies to address debt more effectively, but struggle with fragmented data and inconsistent registration of debt assistance.
Because they all use different data, ranging from their own municipal figures and public sources, there is no uniform basis, making national comparisons and policy evaluations difficult. They also use different administrative definitions, further hindering uniformity.
The DDAS project, a collaboration between CBS, Divosa, NVVK and VNG, aims to change this. With funding from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment (SZW), the parties are working together to automate and standardize data exchange, which should provide municipalities with both policy insight and reduce administrative burdens.
Instead of multiple separate data queries, as is often the case today, there will soon be 1 uniform query. This request will also be automated using APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). This is a big step forward for municipalities, both in reducing administrative burdens and improving policy insight.
'Municipalities can thus improve their insight in the field of debt assistance,' says Jeroen Wismans, data project advisor at VNG Realisatie. 'It is important to know how you are doing as a municipality compared to other municipalities. This keeps you on your toes and offers the opportunity to learn from best practices.'
DDAS is one of the elements in the action plan Basic Service Debt Assistance. By offering municipalities and debt relief organizations the same elements, this plan aims to further strengthen debt relief in our country.
